Well, pick up a history book, and you'll see lots of people escaped religious persecution in Europe.
They wanted to practice their religion / lack thereof, thus were freedom-seeking.
They were willing to brave an Atlantic crossing in small wooden ships and build brand-new lives rather than put up with curtailed freedoms; hence "maximalists".
And when you mix church and state, or when the state kowtows to the church by persecuting its enemies, you have at least a partial theocracy.
